Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

In two recently declassified files it was revealed that Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru used the Intelligence Bureau sleuths to spy on the family of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. This India Today article reasons that Nehru was worried about his political future in the event of Bose returning to India after his mysterious disappearance towards the end of Wold War II. Conspiracy theories abound about this disappearance of one of India's most famous freedom fighter, with some even saying that the (to be) ruling political disposition of India of that time may have had a role to play in it.

Bose with Brutus, Image Credit @HistoryInImages

Thoughts on my mind -

1. Government of India cites foreign relations as the reason why it'd not be able to make all the Netaji files public. I wonder often what worse can happen except negative opinion about a few countries like UK or Russia, who might have taken him as a PoW, post World War II. Or certain people like Gandhi and Nehru who may have been the ones handing over Bose to the Allies. W.r.t. countries, people can turn over a new leaf fairly quickly. Also geopolitics makes strange bedfellows. But the same may not be the case for persons, whom Indians, over the years, have been taught to revere, without questions through text written by some self serving 'eminent historians'. Not that the ruling party in India of today has anything to lose.

2. Speaking of losing, besides the foreign policy angle, the only other reason BJP may be reluctant to declassify the Netaji files would be because in case of any wrongdoing, it'd implicate Sardar Patel, the new found hero of the nationalist support base that the BJP has. Any such snooping or iniquity on the part of the government of that time would imply tacit approval of the then Home Minister Patel.

3. In case of any wrongdoing, a bigger loss would be for the Indian National Congress, and by extension, any other party outside NDA. So, here is what I am putting my money on - The BJP government will eventually release more of the files around the time of the 2016 Assembly elections in some of the states, more importantly in West Bengal. That would definitely yield good political dividends. These two new files may just have been the first salvo fired towards that end, an attempt perhaps, to gauge public sentiments.

A lot of credit is given to Gandhi-Nehru led independence movement, courtesy fables written by 'eminent historians'. Point to ponder - there were several countries that were decolonized during and after World War II; how many of those had Gandhi and the अहिंसा brigade? Freedom fighters like Netaji, and the Indian National Army are still fighting for their rightful place in history. "तुम मुझे खून दो, मैं तुम्हें आज़ादी दूंगा।" - said Netaji, inspiring thousands of Indians to take up arms against the powerful British Empire. Regardless of the motives behind declassifying the files, the People of India have a right to know what finally happened to this illustrious son of India.

More reading on Netaji files -

1. Explained: Everything you need to know about the Netaji files
2. Death of Subhas Chandra Bose

~~ MT